Her head had been aching ever since leaving Brighton earlier. She’d taken some painkillers but they hadn’t made much impact on the dull throbbing behind her eyes, made worse by the constant noise in her brain.

‘You’ve been very quiet this evening,’ Adam said. ‘Are you okay?’

It was such a ridiculous question. Clodagh didn’t know what to say so she said nothing.

‘I still can’t get my head around it,’ Adam said. ‘I keep thinking the police are going to call to say they made a mistake and he wasn’t killed, after all. Or that they’ve found the person who killed him and it was some random stranger who happened to be on the beach that night.’

Clodagh hadn’t told him about her trip to Brighton, or Simon’s odd question about why Nick had been at the same resort as her in Crete. But she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, going back over the details of those seven days wondering what she’d missed. Because Simon was right. It was strange they’d all ended up at the same resort. And the more Clodagh thought about it, the more convinced she became it wasn’t simply coincidence.

‘I’ve been fielding calls from journalists all day,’ Adam said. ‘All asking questions about Nick. Not one of them wants to talk about my book.’

‘It’s all going to start again,’ Clodagh said. ‘I don’t know if I can stand it, Adam.’

He frowned, and she assumed he was thinking about how they were going to deal with the inevitable intrusion over the coming days and weeks. But when he spoke, it seemed he was worrying about something else entirely.

‘You told me earlier you were here all day.’

‘That’s right.’

‘So why were there so many messages on the answerphone? I would have thought you’d answer the phone if you were here.’

‘A journalist called Stephen Hughes kept calling,’ Clodagh said. ‘I couldn’t face speaking to him so I stopped answering the phone.’

Adam seemed to weigh this up for a moment. But then he smiled and the tension across Clodagh’s shoulders relaxed.

‘I’d probably have done the same thing,’ he said. ‘I know Hughes. He’s the worst sort of muck-raking hack. Let me speak to Jake, see if he can get Hughes to ease off a bit.’

‘You think he’ll be able to do that?’

‘It’s his job,’ Adam said. ‘Listen, Clodagh. You sure you’re okay with me going to London again tomorrow? I know the timing’s not ideal with everything else that’s going on right now. It’s just that I’m scared to reschedule in case they lose interest. I can’t risk that.’

‘Of course I’m okay with it,’ she said. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’